B-double accident stops traffic

A B-DOUBLE truck lost its fully-laden rear trailer on the Pacific Highway on Thursday afternoon causing holiday traffic head- aches for police and motorists headed to the opening of Byron Bay’s Bluesfest.

The truck was heading south at 4.15pm when a connection to the trailer failed about one kilometre south of Bangalow on an undivided section of the highway in the 100 km/h zone.

Tweed-Byron Local Area Command Inspector Owen King said it was lucky no one was hurt.

The runaway trailer caused some damage to the road surface.

“A coupling came loose causing the trailer section to come adrift,” he said.

One lane of the highway was closed for some time while police worked to make the scene safe.

A heavy retrieval company was called in to remove the trailer, but its cargo of building materials had to be unloaded before it could be towed away.

A mobile crane was called which arrived at about 8.30pm and worked until after midnight to clear the vehicle.

Tony Millard, from North East Cranes, said it was nothing his company couldn’t handle.

“We do stuff like that all the time,” he said.

“The trailer had dropped off the rear and we unloaded the majority of particle board on to another truck.

“We then lifted the trailer up so the salvage vehicle could remove it.”

Meanwhile Tweed-Byron police have urged the crowds heading into Byron Shire for Bluesfest to act responsibly and avoid running foul of the law at the festival and in surrounding townships over the Easter period.

Detective Inspector Shane Diehm warned festival-goers not to take illicit drugs as there would be drug detection dogs at the entrance to the festival.

There would also be a drug testing van, random breath testing stops and extra patrols in the townships of Byron and Brunswick Heads.

“We will be targeting antisocial behaviour and alcohol related violence at this event,” he said.

“Our response is the same: To make it a safe and enjoyable event for everyone by targeting bad and illegal behaviour.”